This invention relates to a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connector with a lock mechanism, and more particularly to a lock mechanism-equipped USB connector for electrically connecting a body of a computer (such as a personal computer and a work station) to a peripheral equipment such as a mouse and a keyboard.
Generally, a computer body and a peripheral equipment are electrically connected together by a USB interface. In recent years, a computer has been required to be also connected to a small-size equipment such as a digital camera and a portable audio player, and therefore Mini-B interfaces of a small-size have now been adopted, and USB connectors for use with this interface have now been marketed.
In a USB connector, when a plug is inserted into a receptacle, plug terminals is electrically connected to receptacle terminals, respectively. A related USB connector is not provided with a mechanism for preventing the withdrawal of the connector, and a mountain-shaped lock piece, provided at a receptacle shell, is adapted to be engaged in a hole formed in a receptacle shell. Therefore, the retaining force is low, and therefore there has been a fear that the engagement is released upon application of vibration or an external force to the plug or the receptacle.
To solve the above problem, there has been proposed a connector withdrawal prevention mechanism for preventing the withdrawal of a plug from a receptacle by the use of a cap (see, for example, JP-A-2001-135413 (Pages 3 to 4, FIG. 1)).
FIG. 20 is a perspective view of a connector withdrawal prevention mechanism disclosed in JP-A-2001-135413. In the connector withdrawal prevention mechanism 1, a plug 3 is fitted into a resin-molded cap 2 to be received therein, and claws 2a which are formed on the cap 2 are engaged in a hole 5a formed in a box-like body 5, thereby fixing the cap 2 so as to prevent the plug 3 from being withdrawn from a receptacle 4, as shown in FIG. 20.
However, when vibration or an external force is applied to a related USB connector not provided with the above connector withdrawal prevention mechanism, and the connector is easily withdrawn, which has invited a problem that the transmission of data is interrupted when a computer is being used. In apparatuses such as a computer and a game player in which a peripheral equipment, when in use, is moved, an external force or vibration is applied to a USB connector, and this has been a big problem.
Although the connector withdrawal prevention mechanism 1, disclosed in JP-A-2001-135413, has the connector withdrawal prevention function, the plug 3 is adapted to be received within the cap 2, and therefore the cap 2 is rather large in size, and therefore there has been encountered a problem that this structure does not sufficiently meet a requirement for a small-size design of the apparatus which has been increasingly desired in recent years.
And besides, after the plug 3 is fitted in the cap 2, the claws 2a of the cap 2 are engaged in the hole 5a in the body-like body 5, and therefore each time the plug 3 is engaged with or disengaged from the receptacle 4, the cap 2 must be engaged in the hole 5a in the box-like body 5, or the engagement must be released, and therefore there has been mom for improvement with respect to the operability.